HDR’s Lewis testifies before U.S. House of Representatives Transit Subcommittee

HDR Chief Economist and Senior Vice President David Lewis, Ph.D., testified before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Highways and Transit on May 10, regarding the Federal Transit Administration’s implementation of the New Starts and Small Starts program.

His testimony centered on the economic value of transit projects, which fall into three main categories: congestion management, mobility for transit users and community economic development. In not recognizing the full economic value of transit projects, the federal New Starts process creates a risk of underinvestment in transit, Lewis said.

Lewis previously served as a principal economist of the U.S. Congressional Budget Office. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Logistics and Economics and an elected Emeritus Member of the Transportation Research Board, serving on the Committee on Specialized Transportation. He is co-author of the book Policy and Planning as Public Choice: Mass Transit in the United States.

Dr. Lewis’s testimony is available at www.hdrinc.com.